关于领养中国弧儿 (1)

没有什么能比得上给残疾弧儿一个温暖的家更伟大的了。这个想法很勇敢很感人，能帮助一个是一个，尤其是有残障的孩子。你得作好心理准备，由于中国政府的无能, 腐败和"要面子"，领养四川残疾弧儿等的时间可能比一般的国际领养还长。我在上海的亲戚想领四川地震弧儿，等了一年，一点消息也没有，只好改成从上海领。

因你是国际领养，你一定得通过美国的代理。北京的中国收养中心(CCAA)是不接收外国个人审请的。也就是说，几乎没什么"后门" 可走那怕你是海外中国人。孩子们的材料是在孩子大概三四个月大的时候从各地方弧儿院交到北京的。没有中央的指令，地方不能再安排已交上材料的孩子。在中国其实弧儿(健康或残疾)很多很多，如你想早点领到孩子，不一定非要四川地震残疾弧儿。

因你在美国，下面我就用英文写出一些手续和必须的材料:
1. Application to a US Adoption Agent。 They will arrange your Home Study and you need to get your own fingerprints at USCIS or INS local office.
2. Dossier to CCAA (DTC) (http://www.china-ccaa.org/)
3. Wait...Possible Home Study revisit (some states are different, TX is only valid 6 months)
4. You will receive Referral photos of your baby. If you agree, you sign a form then CCAA will mail you a Travel Approval (TA). Your agent normally has a group of applicants travel together or meet in China
5. Going to China get your baby (You could return the baby if you change your mind - very very rare case)
6. Apply for baby's Chinese passport
7. US Consulate (Guang Dong) Interview and US Visa
8. Coming home
9. US Citizenship and Birth Certificate Application (Birth Certificate needs an attorney (<$1000) but some parents chose not do it)

There are normally four separated packages of documents - please prepare many duplicates and pay attention to the expiration date of each document:
1. Application to the US adoption agent
2. Home Study to social worker
3. Dossier to CCAA
4. All documents when travel to China including for the Chinese government and US consulate

I heard there is a "magic matching room" in CCAA with orphan files from various orphanages in China and family application files from adoption agencies around the world. The Chinese social workers will match a child with a family based on the application materials and pictures in the files.

We know we cannot put a price on a baby, but it is a very practical question. The average cost is about 20K to 25 K. The agent, state social study and immigration office take most of it. Then the Chinese government and orphanage. However, the IRS will give you a tax break of about 10K+. Some large companies will give you some reimbursement too. If you consider going back to China anyway, then the air tickets should not count into the cost. So it really does not cost that much. When you holding your baby in your arms, all the paper work, long waiting and cost is nothing.

When chose a US adoption agent, please check online for reputation. If you can, I suggest to use a local one。 If you have any questions or miss a paper work, it is much easy just to drive there to resolve the problems.
Otherwise, FedEx will be your friend :-).

Yes, patience with both the US and Chinese adoption system is the key! Think that all these documents are needed for babies' sake not child-smuggler.

The other people's Chinese adoption stories will really help you to pass the difficult waiting time:

http://www.chineseadoptionstories.com/
http://www.tussah.com/lara/chinasto.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/8800/stories.html

GOOD LUCK!